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The leading provider of global news, comment and analysis for the telecommunications industryTue, 03 Mar 2015 18:20:23 +0000en-GBhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1AT&T says it is on track with SDN 2020 planhttp://telecoms.com/403841/att-says-it-is-on-track-with-sdn-2020-plan/
http://telecoms.com/403841/att-says-it-is-on-track-with-sdn-2020-plan/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 17:31:51 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=403841Telecoms.com caught up with AT&T’s Chief Marketing Officer, Business Solutions Steve McGaw at the Mobile World Congress 2015 to discuss the US operator’s biggest focus areas particularly on the enterprise side. The telco also said it is on track with its plan to transform the large majority of its network to software-defined by 2020.

According to McGaw, there are currently three key areas that represent a great opportunity. “The internet of things is one of the biggest trends that are occurring, and I feel like we’re just at the base of Mount Everest in terms of what the growth rates are going be for that,” he said.

“Second major theme on the business side is collaboration, voice, data messaging- all in one suite of services over a mobile connection. But they [businesses] want it to be location-independent so they can use it when they travel and they want it to be device-independent so that they can do it on their desktop, or laptop or mobile device. And they want it for a predictable price per employee per month as opposed to having a contract with a carrier, a separate contract with the software company and a separate contract with the device manufacturer.

“So we’ve put all that together into something we call AT&T Mobile Office Suite that we announced yesterday. So this collaboration technology is really an explosive opportunity that we’re seeing.”

The third key focus for AT&T is virtualisation, and McGaw said this is an area that also highlights the importance of security and trust. “There’s this sort of over-arching theme with companies and that is security- making sure that their data is secure whether it’s secure in the data centre, secure in the device or secure in the connectivity between those two points.”

Having recently launched its Network on Demand service in five US states, McGaw was keen to emphasise AT&T’s SDN strategy claiming the telco is leading the game in this space in the US. “We’re on the leading edge of this. We have fully committed to this, our Head of Architecture and Technology John Donovan says 75% of our network will be software defined by year 2020.”

From the customer point of view, McGaw admits there are difficulties in making the transition from old network systems to software-defined, a process often further complicated by enterprises subscribing to services from several providers. But says clients are moving to this direction regardless and so is AT&T. “There’s a lot of embedded infrastructure that was not designed for this kind software-defined and software-controlled model. With our business customers we also have to be pragmatic and recognise that they have hybrid networks served by multiple carriers that may not be on the same timetable that we are. So one of the challenges is how do we help transition our customers to software-defined businesses at the same time we transition ourselves.

“But the customers are already going there, and I’d like to say that our business customers typically didn’t get into telecom management… The more that we can take off their plate they’re happy to give to us but they want it secure, they want it well-managed, and that’s part of the value proposition that we’re trying to put through.”

]]>http://telecoms.com/403841/att-says-it-is-on-track-with-sdn-2020-plan/feed/0Google’s floating cellular network and MVNO expectedhttp://telecoms.com/403411/googles-floating-cellular-network-and-mvno-expected/
http://telecoms.com/403411/googles-floating-cellular-network-and-mvno-expected/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:42:21 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=403411Google’s SVP of Products, Sundar Pichai, confirmed in his speech at MWC that the OTT giant is in advanced testing of its floating cellular network, consisting of inflatable balloons and lightweight solar-powered planes. Projects “Loon” and “Titan”, respectively, are in the early phases of testing, but Pichai believes the two projects will provide a portable “mesh of floating cell towers”. He also confirmed the long-anticipated rumour that Google is looking to launch an MVNO in the US.

“Project Loon started about four years ago as an experiment, and if you think about it it’s a crazy idea. The idea was to float balloons in the sky and make them act as floating cell towers,” he said. “We started the experiment about two years ago in New Zealand; at the time we could barely keep it up for five days and we were serving 3G speeds to antennas on the ground. We knew we had to keep it up for at least three months for it to work. Today, we’re able to announce that most of our balloons stay up as for up to six months, 200 days. Instead of 3G speeds, we’ve made progress to serve LTE speeds directly to mobile handsets on the ground.”

Pichai then revealed how Google is partnering with some of the world’s largest telcos to help make Loon a reality.

“We’ve started with large scale testing, doing this with Vodafone, Telefónica and Telstra in Australia,” he said. “We’re working with these partners to actually start real-world testing, at scale, of Project Loon.”

Project Titan, meanwhile, is a similar premise to Loon, but with more programmable, solar-powered, remote-controlled, lightweight planes which, when combined with Loon can provide a fully portable mesh network, Pichai claimed. While still in its relative infancy compared to Loon, he is expecting more advanced testing of Titan very soon.

“So you can imagine a constellation of balloons and planes together, which we can stitch together to create a mesh of floating cell towers,” he said. “These planes can supplement areas where we need extra capacity, think of a disaster relief zone, you need extra capacity and we can fly these planes over there.”

Meanwhile, answering a question relating to the firm’s long-rumoured MVNO play in the United States, Pichai confirmed that the fruition of a mobile phone network service from Google should be seen in the coming months, suggesting Google is looking at a holistic view to connectivity and particularly mobile.

“Our goal here is to drive a set of innovations,” he said. “I think we are at the stage when it’s important to think about hardware, software and connectivity together.”

Pichai also confirmed that Google is working with carrier partners in the US.

Google’s move towards an MVNO offering dovetails with its fixed fibre broadband access products in North America, and is further evidence of an intense phase of ongoing consolidation in the telecoms industry. Scott McKenzie, a director at consulting firm Coleago, reckons Verizon and AT&T may see this as an act of aggression from Google, which up until now has generally been a partner rather than a competitor.

“A further driving force could also be Google’s recently rolled out Fiber Internet and TV service and the subsequent potential for a quad play offering,” he said. “We’ve seen mobile industry consolidation increasingly lead to triple and quad play services, so why should Google not be seeking to attempt a similar strategy now it has dipped its toe in the water of Internet and TV service provision?”

“No matter what the motivation or stated intentions, Google’s strategy offers both opportunity and threat to operators, according to where they sit in the pecking order. Despite Pichai’s statement that they would not be taking on the leading operators head-on, Verizon and AT&T will still likely perceive its moves as an aggressive attempt to steal market share. Smaller carriers such as Sprint or T-Mobile meanwhile could gain from a successful tie up with Google due to the increased traffic and wholesale revenues, with little upfront marketing spend. They will need to balance that against the risk that they then allow Google to play the carriers off against each other potentially causing a damaging price war in the wholesale and retail markets.”

]]>http://telecoms.com/403411/googles-floating-cellular-network-and-mvno-expected/feed/0Roaming bundles putting operator revenues at risk – reporthttp://telecoms.com/403291/roaming-bundles-putting-operator-revenues-at-risk-report/
http://telecoms.com/403291/roaming-bundles-putting-operator-revenues-at-risk-report/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 11:16:24 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=403291A study undertaken by roaming specialist Syniverse, in partnership with the Strategic Economic Engineering Corp (SEEC) has shed some light on the extent to which consumers are willing to churn when considering roaming fees. The study, which polled 2,000 mobile consumers across the US, UK and Germany, revealed that 47% of consumers feel current roaming services are too expensive.

The survey reported that “roam like home” tariffs, such as those operated by Three in the UK, are seeing operators lose out on up to $16 billion in the US, UK and German markets. 42% of consumers surveyed said they would switch providers for a 50% discount on roaming tariffs, while an additional 18% would leave a provider for free or all-inclusive roaming services.

Fees levied against roaming customers has been a contentious issue in recent years, with operators coming under pressure from both the media and regulatory bodies to lower fees and increase billing transparency, so that previously well-publicised cases of bill shock become a distant memory.

According to Juniper Research, the global roaming market could grow by up to $30 billion in the next three years, but the extent to which consumers are willing to churn for better value roaming services means that a more intelligent approach to pricing of international calling, texting and data packages will probably be required.

Juniper estimates the global roaming market to be valued at approximately $57 billion, roughly 4% of global mobile revenues, and could potentially rise to $90 billion by 2018.

“The pace of change in today’s mobile ecosystem sometimes makes it difficult to keep focus on core business areas like roaming that still carry tens of billions of dollars in revenue opportunity,” she said. “It’s critical for operators to take action to protect and drive revenue in the face of fierce battles for subscribers.

Sam Brown, founder and CEO of SEEC, believes there’s more opportunity in the roaming market than may be evident in the current climate of roaming data price drops.

“Our analysis shows the competitive importance of roaming pricing, and as a result, we’re advocating measures for mobile operators to focus resources on their long-term roaming strategies and deliver the proactive offers and experiences their end-users increasingly expect”, he said. “While there is a competitive threat, it’s not all risk and downside. There are billions of dollars up for grabs for mobile operators that can find the right intelligent roaming solutions to unlock end-user demand – a simple evolution of current practices.”

]]>http://telecoms.com/403291/roaming-bundles-putting-operator-revenues-at-risk-report/feed/0Building Digital inCloud, Enriching Digital Businesshttp://telecoms.com/intelligence/building-digital-incloud-enriching-digital-business/
http://telecoms.com/intelligence/building-digital-incloud-enriching-digital-business/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 09:18:20 +0000http://telecoms.com/?post_type=intelligence&p=403071Digital transformation is deepening. More and more telcos are striving to become a digital telco which can achieve growth by providing digital services. Huawei launches its Digital inCloud strategy and solution, dedicated to helping telcos to accelerate this process, aggregate more partners, build digital ecosystem and infrastructures, and gradually extend their businesses to other industries.

An age of accelerating digital transformation

We are in an age of an in-depth digital transformation, when digital ecosystem, Industry 4.0, e-Government, smart city, and industrial internet have been promoted and practiced across the ICT industry. More and more telcos are deciding to transform towards a digital telco, achieving growth by way of digital services.

Operation model: from “single-service, large-scale deployment, consistent service offerings to all consumers” to “digital service production based on the Internet model, user experience centricity, rapid service launches, resource aggregation”.

Four elements to build a digital ecosystem

To become a digital service provider, a telco needs to have the capabilities to aggregate worldwide resources and make them accessible to its users. Digital product monetization includes the following elements:

Produce digital products: It involves partners and telcos. Partners create innovative digital products. Telcos participate in the creation and aggregation of these products.

Open telcos capabilities: Openness of telcos’ capabilities, such as users, supporting systems, operation systems, and data, to partners will enable business innovation.

Launch digital products: Telcos can integrate channels to improve efficiency, which will enable quick and easy access to digital products and management of product lifecycles.

Achieve monetization: Monetization of a digital product includes product usage by end users, as well as value allocation among different partners. Both have high requirements in speed and efficiency.

Throughout the whole process of building a digital ecosystem, innovative business models are encouraged to shorten the operation cycle and aggregate discrete values in the industry value chain.

Global telcos’ explorations and practices in the digital wave

In this digital wave, telcos are exploring possible ways to capture the third growth wave in the telecom industry and benefit from the growth of digital services.

Some telcos are opening their own capabilities or integrating third-party capability resources to monetize their network/user assets and expand into new markets. America Movil built the AM hub to integrate and open its operation capabilities in 17 countries to its global partners. Orange and AT&T, both multi-national telecom groups, have launched capability openness platforms, Orange Partner and AT&T Developer, to extend sales from services to capabilities. MTN Group evolved existing services and enabled the openness platform to launch over 3,000 digital services, enriching MTN’s content offerings. China Unicom launched the WO+ platform, opening its capabilities and resources to individual developers, institutional developers, and third-party capability providers. By mid 2014, China Unicom had launched 15 types of APIs, generating new service revenues.

Others are leveraging self-run businesses to aggregate partners and build an industry service mall, for example, offering applications in fields such as digital media, video, smart home, finance, and health care. AT&T Digital Life offers personalized home security and automation packages, allowing end users to manage their front door locks, monitor their homes, and control household utilities. China Mobile has established Migu, a culture and technology service arm of China Mobile, to improve the running of its content business by integrating music, video, reading, gaming and comic sections. China Mobile aggregate industry partners within one platform and achieves profitability through revenue sharing. Docomo, a Japanese telco, rolled out D-market, through which users can find content and applications sorted into 14 categories. D-market has attracted over 7 million users. A proportion of revenues generated from digital services also increased from 14.19% in 2013 to 18% (forecast) in 2014.

Digital inCloud: enriching digital business

Huawei Software is strategically positioned as “Best partner for managing and monetizing user assets“, aiming to help telcos to achieve business success in digital transformation and enrich operator’s digital business. To achieve this goal, Huawei launches the Digital inCloud strategy and solution.

Digital inCloud covers the service openness platform and operation support services constructed to help telcos to achieve digital transformation, including an openness platform, a partnership alliance, and operation support services.

The openness platform allows telcos to design business scenarios for their assets (such as network assets and user assets) and make their assets available in digital malls. Industry partners can easily shop for telcos’ capabilities, just like shopping in a supermarket, for example,

Big data openness service: Open information analyzed based on big data analysis, such as location tags, interest tags, and credit tags to partners. Advertisers are interested in this data, since it can help them to targets individuals for their ads and monitor whether their ads are effective. Applications of this kind are now widely used among Internet advertisers and finance vendors.

Business support service: Telcos open customer relationship management and billing capabilities and provide user authentication and charging capabilities to third-party partners. The charging capabilities are well received among gaming vendors and online retailers that require a quick payment function, since telcos have high credibility and they can provide reliable network facilities.

IoT service: Telcos open SIM card capabilities, which have been used by Internet of Vehicles (IoV) vendors such as VW and BMW.

Global partnership alliance bridges telcos and partners to facilitate telcos’ business development in the digital business ecosystem. The program provides services ranging from partner recruitment, service launching, service promotion, to operation support, driving telcos’ business development in digital music, traffic monetization, TV and video, open APIs, enterprises, and vertical industries. So far, the inTouch® partnership program has aggregated over 2000 partners and 146,000 applications including over 9000 games, 200,000 songs, and 100 enterprise applications. This program helps telcos to build a solid foundation for additional content and partners.

Tailored solutions targeting different markets:

In mature markets, where telcos have built their own ecosystems, Huawei provides an end-to-end technical platform and operation consulting services. Huawei’s partnership program can serve as a supplement to telcos’ digital ecosystems.

In emerging markets where the digital ecosystem has not taken shape, Huawei provides a one-stop solution including a technical platform, partner aggregation program, and operation services.

Provides an open platform to help telcos to transform towards a digital service provider. A unified and open platform makes telcos’ assets available to partners and leads telcos from a closed business environment towards an open digital ecosystem, so that the market landscape is expanded and more value created.

Bridges telcos and partners to enrich service offerings. Global partnership program connects more partners and resources. So far, the program has contributed to over 2,000 partners and 250,000 content items.

Helps telcos to improve operation efficiency by streamlining digital business processes, which will generate more revenue sources from digital business operations. To respond to changing customer requirements in the digital ecosystem, Huawei assists telcos in the streamlining of digital business operation processes, external integration processes, and new business launch processes to reduce the time to market and shorten time to respond to market requirements.

Huawei is dedicated to helping telcos to explore and create new business models, ecosystems, and organizational structures. With Huawei Digital inCloud, telcos can fully leverage their core advantages in networking and customer base, aggregate partners, build ecosystems and digital infrastructures, and gradually expand their business landscape.

“About two decades ago, people who had a mobile phone were someone big. However, nowadays, those who do not have a phone are someone big.” This joke briefly describes the two-decade development of the telecom industry. Mobile phones, which were symbols of social status, have become the commodities that everyone can have. According to the statistics (Oct 2014) of Re/code, a famous technology media in the United States, the number of mobile phone users all over the world is nearly the total population. In developed regions such as Europe and Middle East, the penetration rate of mobile phones has exceeded 100%. Traditional telecom services have become saturated.

At the same time, another industry comes to loom large gradually. Thanks to the largest IPO in American history, emergence of the Internet-based finance, and all-round pervasion of social software, the Internet industry has outperformed the telecom industry with its strong development trend. Real-time chat software has threatened the traditional territory of the telecom industry. For example, the revenue of the most profitable SMS service of a carrier decreased by 20% in 2014, compared with the revenue in the previous year. The Internet is successful because it provides diverse services and has deeply penetrated into every aspect of people’s daily life (such as transportation, entertainment, social networking, shopping, and finance), changing people’s habits and behavior utterly. Technically, the Internet architecture is an advanced one because it has cloud-based infrastructure and adopts universal and standard IT hardware. As a result, new services develop rapidly and the costs are low. The Internet supports the scale-out mode to improve service processing capabilities, and the capacity expansion is simple, resulting in rapid development of the Internet. The traditional telecom industry adopts the inflexible chimney-type IT architecture. The service update is slow. Single types of services (voice, SMS, and broadband) are outperformed by diverse Internet services. To change the current situation and implement successful transformation, a standard and flexible infrastructure platform needs to be built to implement IT-based networks. This can provide a solid basis for digital service development and ICT convergence, and implement quick development and flexible expansion of various new services, improving operation efficiency by ten times. With the development of technologies such as cloud computing and high-performance x86 servers, cloud data centers become the best choice for telecom industry transformation.

Cloud Transformation Solution

Huawei proposes that the IT-based carrier network development is an irreversible trend in the future. All control layers and service layers become software-based and run on the universal IT infrastructure in the cloud data centers. Therefore, future networks will be built with data centers being the center. Agile, efficient, and open cloud data centers are the basis to support carriers’ ICT transformation.

With the Huawei service driven-distributed cloud data center (SD-DC²) as reference architecture and the OpenStack-based cloud OS FusionSphere as the core, and the OpenStack-based cloud OS FusionSphere as the core, the Huawei cloud transformation solution uses IT infrastructure (server, storage, and network resources) to build a standard and shared cloud resource pool, improves resource utilization and reduces OPEX by migrating existing services (such as VAS and BSS) onto cloud, and assist carriers to expand new services (such as public cloud) to increase revenue. Based on automation and process orchestration technologies, users can install hardware, middleware, OSs, and applications by dragging icons on the network management interface. In this mode, services can be deployed within days instead of months, quickly responding to business requirements and market changes.

2.1 SD-DC² Architecture

To build a next generation data center, and according to characters of telecom, The SD-DC² makes technical innovation in hardware, software, service deployment and big data.

Hardware Restructure

The hardware layer consists of hardware such as servers, storage, and network. Based on the experience on chip and entire system hardware design, Huawei implements hardware R&D innovation in three aspects:

Scale-up: excellent performance

With the common application requirements being met by mainstream servers and storage devices, Huawei provides the high-end server RH5885 and high-end storage device OceanStor 18000 for core application systems that require optimal computing and storage performance, such as databases.

Scale-out: powerful expansion

Compared to the applications of traditional midrange computers, a large number of applications in the Internet era feature distributed architecture as well as large data processing and storage volume. These requirements cannot be met by the design and architecture of traditional servers and storage hardware. To meet the requirements of the Internet and big data processing applications, Huawei develops distributed multi-node architecture to support servers and storage that can be smoothly expanded, including the X8000 high-density rack server and OceanStor 9000 mass storage.

Convergence: integration and simplicity

Some applications need to process a large amount of user data in a short period (such as big data analytics. These applications require high data processing and throughput capabilities. In this case, the traditional loose coupling architecture will encounter bottlenecks on processing bandwidth and latency. Based on the computing, storage, and network integration design, Huawei provides the E9000 converged system to resolve this problem.

Software Define

Based on the hardware solution that is applicable to multiple scenarios, Huawei provides OpenStack-based cloud OS, FusionSphere, and unified management system, ManageOne. Based on the service model of global telecom carriers across multiple areas, Huawei uses the distributed cloud architecture to integrate the computing, storage, and network resources in multiple data centers, forming a large unified resource pool. Resources are allocated by service and in virtual data center (VDC) mode. The cloudized resource pool is turned into a data center as a service (DCaaS) service center, providing carriers with unified resource management and scheduling.

Implements the seamless connection to the OpenStack Cinder service based on the Huawei distributed storage engine, supports a maximum of 128 physical servers for a single cluster, and provides the IOPS that is three to five times of that of the traditional SAN/NAS storage.

Automatically adjusts the power supply and cooling based on the load of physical devices, and implements efficient cooling using multiple natural cooling and energy-saving devices. The lowest PUE is only 1.2.

Service Driven

Virtual data center (VDC):

VDC is designed to solve the challenges of long service deployment period, unguaranteed SLA and difficult O&M. VDC provide centralized management of the IT resource distributed in different locations, abstract them into one or more virtual data centers according to carrier’s organization and service requirement, and service deployment can be finished in 1 day by visual and GUI-based tools. To guarantee SLA in resource pool, differentiated resource, such as gold, silver and bronze levels, can be selected for services with different priorities, and IT resource can be automatically expanded or reduced according to service load, therefore, SLA is guaranteed with efficient resource usage.

Multiple data center management (ManageOne):

ManageOne is the management platform for SD-DC², which enables to manage multiple data centers as one, use one data center as many. The four innovative unified management functions of ManageOne (unified management of multiple data centers, cloud and physical resources, heterogeneous virtualization platforms, operation and maintenance) improve management efficiency by 10 times.

Data Innovation

Huawei FusionInsight is a unified platform for big data storage, query and analysis. To meet the requirement of maintenance and application development of carriers, FusionInsight develops reliable, secure and easy-to-use maintenance system and middleware for full data modeling, which enables carriers to discover values in mass data faster and more accurately. FusionInsight not only closely follows open community of Hadoop and integrate its latest components, but also develops data services and open APIs especially for telecom applications to realize the convenient usage of big data.

2.2 Customer Benefits

Cloud Transformation Solution assists carriers to build up a unified and flexible ICT infrastructure platform, which is the foundation of digital transformation. The detailed benefits are as follows：

Agile: Physical resources are defined by the software and the DCaaS service is provided. Services can be rolled out within one week, meeting the market and business requirements quickly.

Open: Based on the FusionSphere with standard OpenStack architecture and the management software ManageOne that is compatible with 3000 mainstream software and hardware in the industry, the vendor lock problems of carriers are resolved.

Conclusion

Konosuke Matsushita once said, “The so-called death, of course, is an end. However, the birth of a new generation also starts here. The endless death and endless birth are the principle of growth and development.”Today’s dilemma brings us the chance to transform. Tomorrow’s world where things are connected to each other presents a brighter future in front of us. Let’s shake off our burden, make change happen, and embrace the future bravely.

]]>http://telecoms.com/intelligence/cloud-transformation/feed/0CSG launches Ascendon digital services platformhttp://telecoms.com/402641/csg-launches-ascendon-digital-services-platform/
http://telecoms.com/402641/csg-launches-ascendon-digital-services-platform/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 06:00:54 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=402641US business support solutions player CSG has unveiled its new digital services platform – Ascendon – that is designed to help any company looking to offer digital services to consumers.

The novel aspect of this launch is that it’s not a piece of BSS software, rather a platform that sits on top of it, which claims to offer greater agility and flexibility.

“With Ascendon we’ve been able to overlay on top of the existing BSS/OSS infrastructure, sort of in the way these digital services are overlaying on top of broadband networks. So you get things like digital lockers, e-wallets, identity and device management,” Kent Steffen, President, CSG Digital Services, told Telecoms.com.

“CSPs must participate in the fast-growth digital services economy to fuel their growth, moderate the rise of competing services and capture digital services market share,” said Dr. Mark H. Mortensen, of Analysys Mason. “To become a digital services provider of choice, CSPs need to quickly extend their business infrastructure to support retail and service operations for consumers in the new world, across multiple channels and on any device.”

Ascendon was launched at Mobile World Congress 2015. It seeks to unify CSG’s BSS products and its Content Direct content management solution two cater for four main scenarios: evolved customer, digital commerce, network commerce and business transformation.

]]>http://telecoms.com/402641/csg-launches-ascendon-digital-services-platform/feed/0Telefónica makes ‘digital telco’ move through Firefox Hello OTT servicehttp://telecoms.com/403171/telefonica-makes-digital-telco-move-through-firefox-hello-ott-service/
http://telecoms.com/403171/telefonica-makes-digital-telco-move-through-firefox-hello-ott-service/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 21:41:39 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=403171Telefónica told Telecoms.com at MWC 2015 it is en route to transforming itself into a ‘digital telco’. As part of this strategy, the firm is working with Mozilla developing Firefox Hello, a browser-to-browser video communications service.

Oli White, Telefónica’s Director of Product Marketing, Future Comms, said the web real-time communications ((webRTC) platform is proof of the operator’s transformation process and customer focus. “Consumer behaviour is changing and evolving, and as a telecommunications provider we are not able to do all the innovation by ourselves. We saw this great opportunity with Mozilla with the Firefox browser to develop a platform to bring video communications to lot more people.”

Firefox Hello allows users to have Skype-style video conversations but there is no need to sign up or login, which according to White gives the kind of privacy most consumers like. The service works by the user opening a session from the Firefox browser, and then sending the link by email to whomever the they wish to speak to asking them to join via the link.

Apart from the fact that this is an OTT offer by an operator, White said Firefox Hello will also differentiate from similar services through the content sharing feature, currently in beta phase. The idea is to enable users to share screen content during a call, which Telefónica believes will really make the platform stand out.

The product is currently in continuous development, with Firefox releasing an update on it every six weeks and aiming to have the content sharing aspect finalised by this summer.

According to White it is vital for operators to adopt less time-consuming innovation cycles and become more agile and responsive to customers. He said while telcos traditionally haven’t been particularly good at turning things around quickly, they still have what OTT service providers and app developers rely on: the network. “They still need us too, and we like to call [them] OTT as in over-the-telco,” he said.

Whether or not and exactly how Firefox Hello will create future revenue, is not yet clear. “We are not in a position to comment on the commercial side but we believe this represents tremendous value to consumers, and we want them to show us how this should develop. At this stage we are really focusing on getting the content sharing [feature] just right.”

]]>http://telecoms.com/403171/telefonica-makes-digital-telco-move-through-firefox-hello-ott-service/feed/1MWC demos suggest NFV commercially readyhttp://telecoms.com/403121/mwc-demos-suggest-nfvs-commercially-ready/
http://telecoms.com/403121/mwc-demos-suggest-nfvs-commercially-ready/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 17:01:10 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=403121NFV was unveiled at last year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and was rapidly heralded as the next-big-thing for carrier networking. This year, multiple pledges have been made by exhibitors to demonstrate the power of an NFV-enabled architecture, with showcases expected to run all week by some of the industry’s largest players, which aim to show the tech’s move towards commercial readiness.

Starting with Telefónica, which announced it is demonstrating a fully virtualized network live at the show, in collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent and HP. The demonstration focused on live LTE video streaming and calling services on a fully virtualized network stack, including a vRAN, vCDN, vEPC and vIMS.

The Spanish telco has been public in declaring its intentions to move to a fully virtualized architecture, in full, as soon as possible. Its latest announcement illustrates the network transformation it is undertaking by utilising unified communications architectures, cloud computing and virtualization initiatives.

According to a statement released by the telco, it “has a vision of a common infrastructure to serve both Telco and Service Platforms requirements (VNFs – Virtual Network Functions) and that this common infrastructure will be cloud-based”.

In his keynote talk at MWC, Chairman César Alierta alluded to the massive transformation being undertaken at Telefónica. “Ultra-broadband networks, fostered by huge investments, are being deployed across geographies by operators, networks that let everyone and everything be connected, generating immense opportunities for all,” he said.

Speaking of vRAN, China Mobile has been heavily involved with Alcatel-Lucent in developing the technology, which aims to virtualize baseband units onto general purpose Intel servers. At last year’s show, the telco giant showcased the latest developments of the Cloud-RAN program, a predecessor to vRAN.

Dr. Chih-Lin I, Chief Scientist at China Mobile Research Institute, believes the efficiency gains of NFV in the radio network are essential to the future development of the mobile industry.

“vRAN is a successful commercial instance of C-RAN,” she said. “Since CMRI introduced the C-RAN to the industry 5 years ago, we have been working closely with Alcatel-Lucent to develop innovative solutions towards greener and softer future radio access networks. Our joint work in NFV, and especially in this case on the vRAN, will help operators to smoothly evolve and meet growing customer demands with a more efficient and effective network structure.”

Meanwhile, in an exhibition hall far, far away, Juniper Networks and Amdocs have united to deliver live NFV showcase demonstrations of virtualized customer premises equipment (vCPE) in an enterprise environment.

The virtual function, vCPE, is being showcased this week as the two companies announce the availability of the solution which intends to integrate various virtualized routing and firewall services from Juniper, in-turn facilitating rapid carrier scale-out of enterprise-grade services. Juniper’s SDN offering, Contrail, is also involved to deliver management of cloud and NFV infrastructures. Amdocs, meanwhile, is contributing its Network Cloud Service Orchestrator to help the provisioning of virtual and physical network functions, which the company claims will allow for one of the most commonly discussed benefits of NFV: user self-service.

“Service providers recognise the business value of software-powered service chaining as they seek to make their networks more dynamic and better able to adapt to rapid change,” said Gabriel Brown at Heavy Reading. “Virtual CPE is one of the primary use-cases for NFV and there is clear evidence that service providers will invest in the technology if they have the software solutions they need to achieve true service agility.”

Elsewhere in NFV-land, NEC today announced it will be working closely with NTT DoCoMo to deliver NFV solutions across the mobile operator’s commercial network. The virtualized evolved packet core is at the centre of the agreement, which aims to virtualize the primary functions of an LTE network. NEC will also be providing a VNF manager, which it claims will help orchestrate the provisioning of various functions in the vEPC.

Speaking of the partnership, NTT DoCoMo’s CTO, Seizo Onoe, acknowledged the tremendous speed with which NFV has moved through development and into a viable commercial phase of existence.

“NFV, which has finally moved into its commercial phase, is no longer just a pie-in-the-sky idea,” he said. “Through multi-vendor initiatives with NEC and other leading vendors in the NFV domain, we look forward to putting NFV to practical use and thereby helping to accelerate the transition to a new era for mobile networks.”

Of course, these are just a few of the many demonstrations happening in the NFV space across the week at Mobile World Congress. Telecoms.com will be bringing you coverage of the biggest and best announcements at this year’s show across the week.

The unified communications market is set to boom, with the continued growth of 4G service pervasion, and the array of services expected to be available to consumers and enterprise users is set to widen. With VoLTE, RCS, WebRTC, VoWifi and HD video calling on the rise, and with live rollouts expected to increase in 2015, it appears that Mitel is looking to position itself as one of the holistic vendors in this space, from network services to front end software management.

Mitel’s President and CEO, Rich McBee, said the increasing influence of mobile in the development of tangential technological sectors is the driver for Mitel’s acquisition of Mavenir.

“With wireless adoption of IP and 4G LTE and demand for next gen mobile services ramping quickly, we see a compelling opportunity to capitalize on a major market transition to add a high-growth mobile business to Mitel,” he said. “We believe the combination of Mitel and Mavenir creates a powerful new value proposition for enterprises and mobile service providers, using a common IP technology layer as the foundation for convergence, growth and competitive differentiation.”

Speaking of the transaction, Mavenir CEO Pardeep Kohli concurred with McBee in saying that convergence of IT and telecoms is one of the primary motivators for the convergence of his company with Mitel.

“The move to all-IP LTE mobile networks has created a unique opportunity for service providers to leverage a converged all-IP network to offer feature-rich business and consumer communication services to any device, anywhere, on any access network,” he said. “We believe that the combined company is ideally positioned to capitalize on the trends within the communications industry today; namely, the convergence across enterprise and mobile networks to all-IP technologies, and the transition to cloud-based unified communications telephony and software-defined virtualized infrastructure.”

A statement did confirm that Mavenir will still operate under the same brand, and will become the mobile business division of Mitel.

With the traditional landscape of TV continuing to shift, TV is changing! There are three distinct transformations happening now that has continued to gather pace over recent years. The operation owners are changing as OTT players continue to disrupt the market with their agile business models and telcos expand their service range to counter the OTT growth dominating their networks. The quality is evolving as 4K content increases in availability, with 8K already visible on the horizon. And consumer behavior is diversifying. More devices, smarter phones and tablets, and IP Set-top boxes lead to more multitasking with companion apps and second-screen viewing. There is now more choice as the range, availability and accessibility of content grows. The consumer wants any content, anytime, anywhere. In 2015, you cannot do video without doing it everywhere.

The changing future of TV presents many challenges, and as many opportunities.

Trends

Video Everywhere is now mainstream. The last five years have seen early adoption by first-to-market operators shift to wider deployments by operators already offering video services, as new technologies have enabled advanced capabilities across and between screens. Demand has been driven by consumer behavior and expectations that the Video Everywhere experience be instant, personalized and social media-friendly, across multiple screens. Viewers don’t just watch anymore; they want to interact.

Nielsen reports that television viewers enjoy programming more when social media is involved. A recent study found that 25% of TV viewers were more aware of TV programs due to their social media interactions, with 15% saying they enjoyed television more when social media was involved. An Accenture study found that 68% of TV viewers use a second screen, as multitasking becomes the norm. The playing field for consumer engagement has diversified, from the living room to anywhere & everywhere. Winning the coveted trust relationship that broadcast TV has enjoyed for many years is key to any video offering. As traditional pay TV in many markets stagnates, new opportunities and business models driven by consumer demand for alternate video services continue to fuel global growth in a global USD500 billion market. Subscription video on demand (SVOD) is now becoming the dominant revenue model, and is expected to grow globally by 100% over the next five years, complimented by availability everywhere. Across Europe, 78% of operators now offer a multiscreen service, with 80% in the North America. More operators will continue to launch and offer Video Everywhere OTT services as online video growth y/y continues at amazing pace of 400% (4). Already, the first 30 days of 2015 have seen new services launched in the Americas, Europe and Asia as video becomes a basic service.

As content becomes more available and accessible, the operation owners are changing. Original content creators and rights holders and owners, including the traditional Hollywood media companies, are now able to reach out to audiences directly with IP distribution channels more available via OTT and Internet. Their reach can now directly target end consumers, diversifying from the more traditional broadcast distribution that has served the industry for many years.

Content aggregators like Netflix and Amazon have changed the distribution and business models as SVOD over takes Transactional VOD to become the dominant IP video model, extending their reach backed by large content distribution networks (CDNs). With the ability to deliver cloud-based infrastructure and services for management and distribution of video to any Internet connected device, they have developed the ability to intercept and manage the needs and behaviors of online consumers.

The manufacturers of handsets, tablets and smart TVs are also expanding their reach towards consumers through their own online stores. The opportunity for telcos to grow their revenues and subscriber base is to expand their reach across the content value chain and build their service offerings, complimented by IP video.

Telco Advantage

A successful proposition in the video market will need to fulfill a rich set of customer requirements. This means compelling propositions, backed up by the key asset capabilities that telcos hold. The availability of a wide catalog of attractive differentiated content is one of the most important assets of an IP video service.

A key telco advantage is the billing relationship and capability to act as single point of contact and a common user interface to the consumer over any device. With large advanced network infrastructures and technologies in fixed and mobile broadband, telcos hold a distinct advantage in their network footprints and reach to consumers, when complimented with CDN distribution; enabling OTT delivery across all networks. Traditional network infrastructures guarantee the much needed quality of service (QoS) for user experience, with LTE mobile broadband speeds increasing and FTTx deployments providing fixed broadband speeds in the hundreds of Mbps.

With video content now the Internet’s dominant form of traffic, and continuing to grow, video can be used to drive bandwidth for telcos and provides an opportunity to monetize traffic already being consumed. The ability to leverage consumer insights from the existing billing relationship and demographic is another big advantage that will enable tailored and personalized video services across IP infrastructure, and a further opportunity to challenge both the traditional top-down programming schedules of broadcast TV channels and newer business models of OTT players, and to build brand loyalty and a compelling consumer experience.

It’s more important than ever that all operators have a deep understanding of changing consumer behaviors and interests, so that they can limit the risk and direct their investments effectively.

As video consumption on a variety of devices becomes a way of life, the collection of real-time actionable intelligence becomes of prime importance. Building an engaged, segmented audience is key to delivering highly-personalized content based on viewer behaviors for both live and on-demand media. This means seeing, analyzing, and acting on data at a granular level. Insight, analysis and measurement of user data typically fall into three general areas:

Quality of service: Ensuring reliable content reaches multiple viewing devices in many formats is a constant challenge, but critical for maintaining a good user experience.

Audience behavior: Tracking audience behavior down to the individual viewer level in real time provides data that is used for many purposes, including customized delivery and recommendation of programs and promotions.

Big data strategies: Detailed analysis on individual users and their behavior, including who they are, where they are, what they watch, how they engage and which devices they are using, is very valuable to operators seeking to optimize their investment and build a successful monetization strategy.

The ability to attract and aggregate content directly, and from third-party sources across the network infrastructure and platforms the telco operators hold, is a key asset capability to provide value-added services from a multitude of sources in a way that consumers find easy to use as video becomes a basic service.

Achievements of Huawei

Huawei is the number one vendor of end-to-end IP video solutions, serving 70 operators and 30 million subscribers, with 37 million subscriber capacity.

]]>http://telecoms.com/opinion/win-video-win-all/feed/0Samsung shadows Apple in a double Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge launchhttp://telecoms.com/402741/samsung-shadows-apple-in-a-double-galaxy-s6-and-s6-edge-launch/
http://telecoms.com/402741/samsung-shadows-apple-in-a-double-galaxy-s6-and-s6-edge-launch/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 23:31:26 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=402741On the eve of the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Samsung unveiled what comes next from its Galaxy smartphone family, launching two devices: the S6 and S6 Edge. In the dual launch that seemed to take a leaf out of Apple’s book, the Korean device maker claimed it has combined design and practicality to create its latest devices.

Despite the smartphones being described as totally new in both design and specs, the S6 especially looked familiar. The S6 Edge, slightly bigger of the two devices, on the other hand does have a screen that curves around the edges, which does give the phone more of a unique look.

Although being able to add up to five contacts on the ‘edge’ of the curved screen to have on speed dial with a different colour for each person that lights up when they call, it wasn’t immediately obvious what other practical elements the curved display has to offer. “These are the most advanced smartphones in the world- and they also look really cool,” Samsung’s President and CEO JK Shin said.

Both devices have built-in battery, which can be charged wirelessly. Samsung claimed the battery also charges quicker than any other battery saying just 10 minutes of charging translates to four hours of “everyday use”. Although the wireless charging is a plus, the battery in the S6 and S6 Edge is only 2550mAh compared to 28000mAh in the S5.

However, according to the vendor, the new phones are more efficient, faster and offer more memory than their predecessors. The handsets, available from the 10th of April onwards, come either with 32 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB of storage. Another concession to smartphone consensus was the move to a metal body.

As previously rumoured, Samsung has decided to use its own chips rather than Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, which the S5 comes with. But although Samsung recently finally released a phone operating on its own Tizen OS in India, these latest devices still run on the familiar Android (Lollipop).

During the product launch tonight Samsung made sure to have several jibes at Apple, including hardware durability (“this phone will not bend,” said Samsung’s Marketing VP Younghee Lee) and photo quality. The phones come with a 16MP rear camera with an f1.9 aperture, which is designed to aid in low-light situations. The front camera has 5MP with the same amount of aperture. Apparently to make spontaneous snapping as easy as possible, the camera is always on stand-by and ready to click within 0.7 seconds. This is helped by a fingerprint sensor in the home button that removes the need to swipe.

In what seemed like yet another direct attempt to compete with Apple, Samsung also announced its own contactless payment solution, Samsung Pay. The firm said the world needs a universally accepted contactless payment method, and claimed Samsung Pay’s combination of NFC and and MST (magnetic secure transmission) technology will ensure it will work anywhere where either NFC, debit or credit payments are accepted.

Overall the S6 and S6 Edge seem like decent higher-end smartphones. It looks clear, though, the vendor felt the need to tick the box created by Apple by launching two devices. Perhaps it also predicts it probably won’t be able to sell as many of the Edge handsets, which will be sold at an even higher price than the S6, and wanted to make sure it also has a safer option.

]]>http://telecoms.com/402741/samsung-shadows-apple-in-a-double-galaxy-s6-and-s6-edge-launch/feed/0HTC opts for continuity with the One M9http://telecoms.com/402711/htc-opts-for-continuity-with-the-one-m9/
http://telecoms.com/402711/htc-opts-for-continuity-with-the-one-m9/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 20:37:25 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=402711At a lavish launch event on the eve of Mobile World Congress 2015, HTC unveiled its flagship smartphone launch for the year in the form of the HTC One M9.

The name implies an incremental refresh of the highly-regarded One M8 and that’s exactly what this turned out to be. The chassis looks pretty similar although HTC has some some clever metal work to introduce some new colour variations, including a pink version. As you would expect there were also improvements to some key components, but Rob Kerr, mobiles expert at uSwitch, was underwhelmed.

“Realising that 4 megapixels won’t cut it anymore, HTC has finally added a much-improved 20-megapixel camera to its flagship line up,” he said. “There is very little innovation to be seen in the M9. The five-inch 1080p screen remains the same as the M8’s, while other phone makers have moved on to 2K displays. There are slight improvements to the Android HTC overlay which will eventually work its way down to older models, which throws up the burning question: why bother upgrading to the M9 at all?”

While Kerr is right to observe that HTC seems to have opted for continuity, it would not necessarily have been better to tweak excessively with the winning formula is had with the M8. The perceived camera weakness has been addressed and HTC is hardly the first smartphone maker to hit an innovation plateau.

HTC’s problem is that, in spite of consistently producing some of the best reviewed devices, is can’t get near the marketing spend of Samsung and Apple and isn’t strong in China, so it struggles to shift large numbers. This looks like a solid refresh, but with Apple on fire and Samsung desperate to strike back that might not be enough.

HTC also launched a new fitness band called HTC Grip in partnership with sports clothing brand Under Armour, which it is targeting at fitness enthusiasts. And the final announcement was the development of a virtual reality set in partnership with gaming giant Valve, which is expected to have its consumer launch later this year.

]]>http://telecoms.com/402711/htc-opts-for-continuity-with-the-one-m9/feed/1Huawei focuses on wearables at MWC 2015http://telecoms.com/402681/huawei-focuses-on-wearables-at-mwc-2015/
http://telecoms.com/402681/huawei-focuses-on-wearables-at-mwc-2015/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 20:15:10 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=402681The consumer-facing arm of Chinese giant Huawei chose not to launch any new smartphones at its big press event at Mobile World Congress 2015. Instead it launched not one but three wearable devices.

Pausing only to stress how much progress its overall consumer brand is making at exhaustive length, Huawei’s first product launch was the TalkBand B2. At first glance the B2 looks like a fitness band, and that does account for a major chunk of its functionality. But the clever bit is that it’s also a wrist dock for a mini Bluetooth headset, so you get two accessories for the price of one.

The second launch was a stereo Bluetooth headset, which consists of two ear buds linked by a cord. By itself this isn’t especially innovative, but Huawei stressed the high quality of the audio and has also equipped them with 4GB of their own storage, so they can operate independently of any other device if you want. Huawei also suggested they make for an alternative piece of jewellery when dangling around your neck, which may have been one USP too far.

The crowning launch was left to last, with Huawei unveiling its new smartwatch. The Huawei Watch features a circular face and is designed to look as much as possible like a regular watch, in a manner reminiscent of the recently-launched LG smartwatches. There was a focus on premium components, but Huawei doesn’t think it’s time to introduce a modem yet. There are 40 custom watch faces, but most of the features are standard ones derived from Android Wear.

Huawei is as determined as ever to establish itself as a consumer brand. This press event seemed to borrow more than previous ones from the now established Jobsian MO, with hyperbole thick on the ground and a suspicious amount of cheering and clapping from the audience. They even got their top brand professional up on stage to talk about how Huawei wants to transcend meter products in the way Nike and Coke (and by inference Apple) do. None of these products may end up selling in huge numbers but they all add to Huawei’s consumer credibility.

]]>http://telecoms.com/402681/huawei-focuses-on-wearables-at-mwc-2015/feed/075% of operators looking to video for LTE revenue – exclusive reporthttp://telecoms.com/402511/75-of-operators-looking-to-video-for-lte-revenue-exclusive-report/
http://telecoms.com/402511/75-of-operators-looking-to-video-for-lte-revenue-exclusive-report/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 13:03:57 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=402511Operators see video content streaming as one of the most lucrative LTE services, according to the Telecoms.com Intelligence Annual Industry Survey 2015. However, the report results also showed telcos still see OTT service providers as a significant competitive concern.

The annual report, which had over 2,000 respondents, showed 75% of respondents identified video as one of the services enabled by LTE with the most revenue-generating potential. Additionally 58% of respondents said they see OTT competitive pressure as a significant challenge facing them in 2015. This indicates respondents are concerned the potential offered by video content being reduced by OTTs such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant Video.

In terms of other LTE offerings, VoLTE (voice-over-LTE) was seen as the second most lucrative with 56% respondents selecting it, followed by LTE data roaming (49%) and HD video calling (41%).

Which of the following do you think are the most lucrative services enabled by LTE? (select three)

Overall, 72% of operators said they are prioritising LTE investment in 2015. But at the same time the survey revealed operators don’t expect LTE to reach even the majority of their subscribers within this year. “LTE is, of course, a key technology for demonstrating value and differentiation to the market, but the survey revealed most respondents still expect the minority of their subscribers to be covered by LTE this year,” Scott Bicheno, Editor of Telecoms.com Intelligence said.

“Another major LTE-related question facing the industry is the move to VoLTE. While it’s generally considered inevitable, there is understandable reluctance to do so prematurely and the survey revealed distinct anxieties about ensuring continuity when they eventually do.”

Looking at what makes telcos stand out in more detail, network quality and coverage was seen as the most important means of competitive differentiation with 75% of operators choosing this as the primary feature. At 59% service pricing came second and customer service third at 42%.

On the contrary, device pricing, content partnerships, LTE-Advanced and carrier billing didn’t seem very important in terms of competitive advantage, with 15%, 10%, 8% and 6% of responses respectively.

Vincent Rousslet, VP Market Insight and Strategy at Amdocs, one of the survey sponsors, said: “Telecoms.com Intelligence Annual Survey bears out the emergence of this new world of customer experience in a striking manner: competitive pressure is mounting between operators (a top priority for 64% of respondents) and from internet companies (59%).

“Lower prices and the cost of technology (60%) – both rolling out the new and servicing the old – create a challenging scissor effect, with revenue losing ground to costs. In order to succeed, a common thread has to be woven across the operator: competitive customer experience is that thread.”

With one being the most and five being the least, how much of a challenge do you consider the following to be in the next 12 months?

]]>http://telecoms.com/402511/75-of-operators-looking-to-video-for-lte-revenue-exclusive-report/feed/0US telcos slam FCC net neutrality rulingshttp://telecoms.com/402471/us-telcos-slam-fcc-net-neutrality-rulings/
http://telecoms.com/402471/us-telcos-slam-fcc-net-neutrality-rulings/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 12:11:07 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=402471AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have all denounced the FCC’s net neutrality ruling, which saw a reclassification of broadband as a telecoms service under Title II. All three were staunch in their opposition to the ruling, releasing official statements declaring their disagreement, while the threat of future litigation looms due to the narrow majority of the vote.

For now the FCC appears to have finally had its way in the serial drama that is the Net Neutrality debate in the USA, imposing what it refers to as “strong, sustainable” rules in relation to provisioning of internet services by America’s ISPs and mobile broadband providers. The ruling was passed through with a narrow 3-to-2 majority win.

A protracted session involved multiple statements of support and dissent, as well as a cameo from the inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who praised the ruling which saw ISPs being classified as telecommunications service providers under the Title II regulatory framework, and as such being required to treat all broadband traffic equally.

Underpinning the entire debate, and the primary motivator for the re-emergence of the FCC’s determined approach to ensuring an open internet, is the ongoing success of content delivery service providers, such as Netflix. Netflix last year claimed Verizon, AT&T and Comcast restricted or otherwise throttled bandwidth being made available to its service, therefore reducing the quality of service passed on to consumers.

Responding to the FCC’s ruling, Netflix itself released an official statement, in which it praised the move to protect openness and consumer services, while indicating that Net Neutrality regulations can only cover so much ground, with regards to network interconnection points.

“Today’s order is a meaningful step towards ensuring ISPs cannot shift bad conduct upstream to where they interconnect with content providers like Netflix,” it said. “Net neutrality rules are only as strong as their weakest link, and it’s incumbent on the FCC to ensure these interconnection points aren’t used to end-run the principles of an open Internet.

“Given the lack of competition among broadband providers, today’s other FCC decision preventing regulations that thwart local investment in new broadband infrastructure also is an important step toward ensuring greater consumer choice. These actions kick off a new era that puts the consumer, not litigious corporate giants, at the centre of competition policy.”

Verizon’s attempted a satirical retort to the news by releasing a statement dated February 26th 1934 (the year in which the first Communications Act was passed), and presented with a typewriter font, suggesting a retrograde route is being taken by the FCC.

In the statement, Michael E. Glover, Verizon’s SVP of Public Policy and Government Affairs, said: “Today’s decision by the FCC to encumber broadband Internet services with badly antiquated regulations is a radical step that presages a time of uncertainty for consumers, innovators and investors.”

“What has been and will remain constant before, during and after the existence of any regulations is Verizon’s commitment to an open Internet that provides consumers with competitive broadband choices and Internet access when, where, and how they want,” he said.

AT&T’s Jim Cicconi provided a perspective seemingly belonging to an episode of House of Cards, by stating: “Perhaps I’m betraying my years, but in Washington policy circles there has always been tension between those interested in solving problems and those who see policy disputes as a test of ideology.”

While stating his, and presumably AT&T’s, disagreement with the ruling, Cicconi appeared to hint at the possibility of future litigation through Congress and the courts.

“Instead of a clear set of rules moving forward, with a broad set of agreement behind them, we once again face the uncertainty of litigation, and the very real potential of having to start over – again – in the future. Partisan decisions taken on 3-2 votes can be undone on similarly partisan 3-2 votes only two years hence. And FCC decisions made without clear authorization by Congress (and who can honestly argue Congress intended this?) can be undone quickly by Congress or the courts. This may suit partisans who lust for issues of political division, but it isn’t healthy for the Internet ecosystem, for the economy, or for our political system.”

Comcast’s EVP David L. Cohen appeared equally resigned to future litigation and legal challenges to the FCC’s ruling, saying: “Today, the FCC voted 3-2 to adopt new Open Internet rules – rules that we support and agree should be put in place as legally enforceable by the FCC. Unfortunately, the FCC also decided to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. We are disappointed the Commission chose this route, which is certain to lead to years of litigation and regulatory uncertainty and may greatly harm investment and innovation, when the use of Section 706 alone would have provided a much more certain and legally sustainable path.”

One of the primary questions arising from the debate came down to who would be responsible for the cost of infrastructure upgrade, in an age where consumers are increasingly turning to over-the-top (OTT) providers for video content, which subsequently strains existing infrastructure.

At its core, the FCC’s ruling will open up complaint channels and legal opportunities for companies that feel they’ve been treated unfairly by ISPs, or had their services throttled. An official statement from the FCC clarified the salient points of the ruling:

“The Order establishes that ISPs cannot “unreasonably interfere with or unreasonably disadvantage” the ability of consumers to select, access, and use the lawful content, applications, services, or devices of their choosing; or of edge providers to make lawful content, applications, services, or devices available to consumers,” it said. “Today’s Order ensures that the Commission will have authority to address questionable practices on a case-by-case basis, and provides guidance in the form of factors on how the Commission will apply the standard in practice.”

Standing in staunch opposition, Commissioner Ajit Pai was unrelenting in his dissent. During an impassioned speech in which he looked to appeal to the hundreds of small ISPs across the country, he concluded with words of warning, saying: “Remember: broadband networks don’t have to be built. Capital doesn’t have to be invested here. Risks don’t have to be taken. The more difficult the FCC makes the business case for deployment, the less likely it is that broadband providers big and small will connect Americans with digital opportunities.”

While opposition to the movement is clear from the US telcos, the FCC’s ruling by no means marks the end of this saga. As alluded to by multiple parties, future litigation and a revisit of the ruling look to be on the cards, as more twists and turns on the regulatory road loom on the horizon.

]]>http://telecoms.com/402471/us-telcos-slam-fcc-net-neutrality-rulings/feed/0A Week in Wireless – 2020 is the new 2015http://telecoms.com/a-week-in-wireless/a-week-in-wireless-2020-is-the-new-2015/
http://telecoms.com/a-week-in-wireless/a-week-in-wireless-2020-is-the-new-2015/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 10:28:12 +0000http://telecoms.com/?post_type=awiw&p=402001Mrs. Informer got back from her travels this week, so The Informer has been forced to pretend that he’s a functional member of society again. So much so that he managed to peel himself off of the sofa, put on a tie and start thinking about things outside in the real-world once more.

Turns out that Mobile World Congress, the overlord of telecoms and the teat from which the industry suckles for the next 12 months, is less than one working day away. And The Informer could scarcely be more excited.

No doubt all of the big trends, devices and kit we’ll see in the next 12 months will be grandiosely unveiled or heavily alluded to in Barcelona next week. Presumably, if CES was anything to go by, there’ll be lots of talk about IoT and smart-things; as well as new smartphones, tablets and wearables from the usual suspects.

But no-one’s really interested in tangible products that will actually be headed our way in 2015. Oh no. Modern consumerism demands the next big thing as soon as the last big thing is no longer considered to be a “big thing” any more. The Informer considers himself to be a bit of a modern consumer, and so even he is unrealistically screaming out for 5G, despite only signing up to an LTE service six months ago, and still experiencing pretty sketchy coverage at the best of times.

5G is so ethereal at the moment that it makes Tolkein’s Elves look more like the charming participants found on an episode of Jeremy Kyle; and yet, the frenzy being whipped up around it appears to be all-consuming.

Even the NGMN, the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, is purposefully vague in its definition of 5G, and The Informer reckons that’s because nobody actually knows what on earth it is, they just know they don’t want to miss out. Here’s what the NGMN described 5G as:

“… an end-to-end system that includes all aspects of the network, with a design that achieves a high level of convergence and leverages today’s access mechanisms (and their evolution), including fixed, and also any new ones to be defined.”

Soooo, could one interpret that to mean “a really fast, really good network yet to be invented”?

In the past ten days or so, all of the big telco kit vendors have been positioning themselves around 5G – at least to make it look as though their collective fingers are on the pulse. They’ve all been making noise about MWC unveilings which will start readying operators for 5G, and there were even a few glorious buzzword amalgamations dropped in there for good measure too, which always humours The Informer.

Alcatel-Lucent posted a blog earlier this month which painted a picture of some of the conversations it’s been having with key clients about 5G. As one would imagine, it was pretty thin on tangibles, but it did paint a utopian picture of an always-connected society.

“Imagine a world where one could remain connected and monitored for one’s health and security at all times and all places – the freedom this would bring to those with chronic illness as well as peace of mind to the rest of us.”

Now, regular visitors to his column have probably ascertained that The Informer is a pretty paranoid character at the best of times; so he’s yet to be convinced that being constantly monitored is more utopian than it is dystopian. But before this becomes another 1984-inspired rant, we’ll move quickly on.

As mobile becomes more integral to the advancement of modern society, Mobile World Congress has become an industry in and of itself. It has its own delicate ecosystem of businesses that depend on the 70,000+ visitors who flock to Barcelona every spring. Hotels are booked up months in advance; flight prices hike up exorbitantly; the city’s tourism board gets fully behind it, as do caterers, contracted security staff and helpful sign-holding students. That’s not to mention the plethora of microcosms that exist around putting the show together. And that includes the veritable feast of news that The Informer’s colleagues at Telecoms.com feed off to make a living.

Consequently one assumes that the show, and its participants, comes under more and more pressure each year to deliver that mind-blowing, “oh my god!” announcement that will change how we live our lives. Conveniently, that leads us back on to 5G.

The Informer was having a chat with a lead researcher from one of the massive Chinese telcos a little while ago, and he was told how the clever folks at their wireless research labs were looking at 5G a few years ago, but considered it to be too far out there.

“We didn’t think we’d be speaking about it so soon,” they began, before saying 5G isn’t going to be any one specific technology, rather it will be a 5G “era” full of multiple enabling technologies.

Some of the 5G talk ahead of MWC has been about emerging radio access technology, new optical tech and means of maximising spectrum efficiency (a la Samsung & SK’s “3D Beamforming” project). Other talk has been about converging 5G and LTE for switching between the two, dedicating resources for IoT traffic, using SDN, NFV, Big Data and loads more.

There’s still so much work to be done before 5G can be considered a feasible technology, but our cultural need for instant gratification is causing a bit of a frenzy in the telecoms industry. Even Apple has joined the NGMN’s 5G research project, so as not to miss out on the trend.

No-one The Informer has spoken to reckons 5G is going to be around in the next five years, so he’s going to mark the 1st January 2020 in his diary, and anxiously stare at the calendar, counting down the days until the next big thing arrives.

Only 5 more Mobile World Congresses, and 1768 days to go.

Take care,

The Informer.

]]>http://telecoms.com/a-week-in-wireless/a-week-in-wireless-2020-is-the-new-2015/feed/0Almost one in three UK broadband connections superfast – Ofcomhttp://telecoms.com/402301/almost-one-in-three-uk-broadband-connections-superfast-ofcom/
http://telecoms.com/402301/almost-one-in-three-uk-broadband-connections-superfast-ofcom/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 10:20:00 +0000http://telecoms.com/?p=402301According to research by Ofcom, almost one in three (32%) broadband connections in the UK are superfast, up from approximately one in four in November 2013. The regulator said increasing take-up of superfast, 30Mbps or above, cable and fibre services has increased the country’s average broadband speed by a fifth in the last six months to 22.8Mbps.

The report claimed that as of November last year, the average actual speed over superfast connections was 50.4Mbps. However, the competition authority admitted a “small proportion” of subscribers of these connections experienced actual speeds below 30Mbps.

Cable broadband average speeds increased by 26% since November 2013 to 54.4Mbps, while fibre connection speeds averaged at 41.6Mbps. Ofcom said improvement in cable speeds was largely down to Virgin Media’s faster broadband opt-in offer to its customers. At 7.3Mbps on average, ADSL apparently saw no significant change.

In a six month-period ended in November 2014, average download speeds in urban vicinities grew by 21%, which Ofcom again largely attributed to Virgin’s upgrade programme. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were no noteworthy changes to report in suburban and rural areas.

In terms of providers covered by the report, Virgin’s 152Mbps service achieved the fastest download speeds, averaging 132.6Mbps over 24 hours. But looking at upload speeds the research found Plusnet’s up-to 76Mbps package to perform the best at 17Mbps on average.

“The UK has seen significant investment in superfast broadband, and millions of households are now benefitting from faster speeds and more choice,” Steve Unger, Acting Ofcom Chief Executive, said. “But there’s still more to be done to ensure that everyone can share in those benefits.

“It’s encouraging to see continued investment in infrastructure from broadband providers, supported by Government funding to bring faster broadband to harder to reach areas. By providing the best possible information, Ofcom can help people understand the broadband services available to them and what they can do to get the most from their broadband.”

8 pm to 10 pm peak hour traffic assessment showed Sky’s up-to 38Mbps service suffered the least , with 96% of testing panellists receiving 90% or more of their connection’s maximum speed. EE’s up-to 38Mbps package was the worst peak time performer with only 7% getting 90% or more of the maximum speed during those hours.

Virgin’s up-to 50Mbps service fared well during peak hours with 100% receiving 90% or more of the promised speeds, but it was a different story on the higher speed packages with 59% getting 90% or more on the 100Mbps offer, and 33% of those using the 152Mbps package.

The telco’s active postpaid customer base increased 4% last year compared to 2014 and ita had 12% more prepaid customers. Overall, it had 6% bigger subscriber base than in 2013. Postpaid net ARPU (average revenue per active user) was £18.91, prepaid £5.30 and blended total net ARPU £15.08. ARPU for Three UK was not tracked the previous year so year-on-year comparison wasn’t possible.

The Hutchison Whampoa-owned operator said 42% of its 8.4 million customers are now using 4G, and reported that monthly data consumption per subscriber grew by 60% year-on-year from 2GB in December 2013 to 3.3GB in 2014. Three claimed this to be proof it is the market leader in data usage per customer. But this is hardly surprising given it is the only UK operator to automatically offer 4G to all customers.

The telco was also keen to highlight its Feel at Home service, which enables customers to use their data package for no extra charge when visiting the 16 countries currently included in the programme, including Australia, Finland, France, Italy and the USA. Further two countries, Spain and New Zealand, will be added as of April 1, which according to Three’s estimate will mean 65% of all its customers’ overseas trips will be covered by Feel at Home. It wasn’t clear, however, how the operator had arrived at this figure.

“By listening to our customers and focusing on their needs, our customers are happier than ever and their positive word of mouth is helping to attract more customers to Three,” Dave Dyson, Chief Executive, said. “We will continue to enhance our network and provide the plans and offers to help customers stay connected in more places both in the UK and overseas.”

Richard Woodward, Chief Financial Officer, said: “Our 2014 financial results demonstrate the successful execution of our strategy. New and existing customers are increasingly attracted to Three for our quality data network and offers like Feel At Home, which also means they are choosing to spend more and stay longer because of the value they receive. Our focus has been, and will continue to be, on giving our customers the best and fairest mobile experience available to support our financial growth.”

The free international roaming service in the nominated countries is a good perk but Three is facing toughening competition as the UK market heads towards more convergence with BT on the brink to acquire EE. It remains to be seen what will come from the talks between Hutchison Whampoa and Telefónica over a merger of Three and O2.

]]>http://telecoms.com/402201/three-uk-reports-flat-2014-sales-growth/feed/0Telecoms.com Intelligence Annual Industry Survey 2015http://telecoms.com/intelligence/telecoms-com-annual-industry-survey-2015/
http://telecoms.com/intelligence/telecoms-com-annual-industry-survey-2015/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 12:50:00 +0000http://telecoms.com/?post_type=intelligence&p=400141Building on the industry insight we’ve been growing since 2013, the 2015 Telecoms.com Intelligence Annual Industry Survey garnered responses from 2,066 professionals from all parts of the telecoms sector. This is a substantial representation of today’s industry, with more than half of all responses coming directly from service providers, and represents one of the industry’s broadest and most comprehensive analysis pieces available today.

Surprises and contradictions are what one tends to look for when examining the results of surveys such as this and there were several that stood out. Take multiplay, for example, where the trend’s early movements came from fixed-line and internet service providers adding TV offerings to its portfolio. Surprisingly, the majority of respondents (60%) believe it will indeed by mobile operators who are in the strongest competitive position to move towards multiplay.

But clearly identified by operator respondents as the biggest challenge facing operators over the next five years was competitive pressure between operators (64%), swiftly followed up by competitive pressure faced by OTT content providers. Compared to last year, when the majority of respondents saw regulatory pressure on pricing as the biggest challenge facing the industry, this marks a substantial shift in mind-set sweeping across the industry.

The survey was wide-ranging in scope. We asked the industry about operators’ BSS strategies, the ongoing mission of deploying and expanding LTE networks, the move towards NFV and SDN-based network management, and telco network security among other issues. The benefits and challenges associated with each of these areas of operator focus emerged clearly, with network performance and quality of service for customers among the dominant concerns throughout.

We’re delighted to offer up our free report of the findings.

Please fill in the short form below to receive a copy of the 2015 Telecoms.com Industry Survey Report - Fields labelled with * are mandatory. By downloading this report telecoms.com may share your details with sponsors of the survey and use your information to send you targeted telecoms.com promotions. You can opt out of these at any time.

Mavenir said the solution incorporates features for session control and subscriber management and activation, as well as application and messaging servers, and access and border gateways. The firm said it can be either integrated into operator’s existing IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) core network, or deployed as a ‘greenfield’ network for voice, video and messaging over wifi.

The Texas-based firm claimed it is engaged with multiple operators over plans to implement the solution, and said both above mentioned deployment scenarios are being considered by different parties. According to the company, cable operators have a growing interest in including Vowifi as part of their service packages. “We believe that VoWifi changes the competitive landscape for cable operators,” Pardeep Kohli, Mavenir’s President and CEO said.

“Mavenir’s converged IMS solution provides cable operators the benefit of seamless mobility between wifi and cellular networks, as well as proven interoperability and a native user experience on the latest wifi Calling enabled devices, such as Apple’s iPhone 6.”

The VoWifi solution, part of the firm’s wider virtualisation portfolio, is based on Mavenir’s mOne Convergence platform, IMS core and application servers, and cross-platform mobile clients. The company said the solution takes advantage of NFV in the deployment of new services on service providers’ cloud infrastructures.

With clear movement towards more convergent offerings in the telecoms industry in general, it makes sense cable operators too would look to solutions enabling them to offer calls and messages as part of their services. Whether this will prove a truly competitive solution for retaining or gaining customers, remains to be seen.